Netflix’s animated musical "KPop Demon Hunters" generated an estimated $18 million to $20 million over the 23–24 August weekend, enough to lead the North American box office, according to rival studio and exhibitor projections. The sing-along event played for just 48 hours on about 1,700 screens—none of them AMC locations—yet out-drew horror hold-over "Weapons," which collected $15.6 million in its third frame. The result marks the first time a Netflix original film has opened at No. 1 theatrically and comes two months after the picture’s streaming debut. Since arriving on the platform in June, the Sony Pictures Animation title has logged more than 210 million views, making it Netflix’s second most-watched movie ever. Critics have also embraced the film, awarding it a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, "KPop Demon Hunters" follows the fictional girl group Huntr/x, whose chart-topping soundtrack has placed three songs in the Billboard Hot 100, including the No. 1 single “Golden.” The weekend’s strong theatrical turnout underscores the potential for streamers to extract additional revenue from breakout titles, offering cinemas a rare late-summer lift and prompting industry debate over whether Netflix will repeat the experiment with future releases.